Look Ma’, No Hands!

Matthew Glans is a Senior Policy Analyst at The Heartland Institute. Glans joined the staff of The Heartland Institute in November 2007 as Heartland’s Legislative Specialist on Insurance and Finance. Glans’ responsibilities include interacting with elected officials and staff on insurance and finance issues; tracking new legislation; and drafting responses to emerging issues via talking points, news releases, and op-ed pieces, with the goal of educating legislators and informing them about free-market ideas.

Glans earned a Master’s degree in political studies from the University of Illinois at Springfield. He also graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in political science. Before coming to Heartland, Glans worked for the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services in its legislative affairs office in Springfield. Glans also worked as a Congressional Intern in U.S. Representative Henry Hyde’s Washington D.C. office in 2004.

“‘Our goal is to help prevent traffic accidents, free up people’s time and reduce carbon emissions by fundamentally changing car use,’ Google said on its blog.

The automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to “see” other traffic, as well as detailed maps to navigate the road ahead.

The futuristic autos have already been tested on the heavily trafficked California roadways — including highways, bridges and busy city streets. They have even navigated San Franciso’s famed Lombard Street, a tourist favorite known as the nation’s most dramatically winding address.

All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles, Google said.

All of the test runs have had a driver behind the wheel just in case. The driver can take over as easily as one disengages cruise control, Google said, adding that test drives have also included a trained software operator in the passenger seat to monitor the software.

Google said it believes its self-driving cars might one day cut by half the more than 1 million traffic fatalities suffered each year.”

Fully automated cars could have a significant effect on auto insurance–how would insurance work in a world where cars are driven by computer? While several questions exist over how the technology would change society, including how much control would be given to control the computerized roadways, the benefits of a driver less transportation system cannot be ignored.

The end of speed traps and cell phone drivers alone would be worth it.

Look Ma’, No Hands! was last modified: January 31st, 2013 by Matthew Glans